Miscellaneous. 459 



mined when the skulls of these species can be compared with the 

 typical skull described in the Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 82. 



In the British Museum there is a very large specimen of a true 

 Phascolomys, which, from the colour and rigidity of the fur, appears 

 to be a third species. Unfortunately the skin is without any skull, 

 and has no reliable habitat attributed to it, as it was purchased of 

 Mr. Jamrach, in 1859, who received it from "Australia." It is very 

 probably the " big yellow fellow," or Wombat, that the natives say 

 is found on the banks of the Murray. (See Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, 

 p. 2/1.) 



Phascolomys setosus. 



Nearly uniform pale brown ; the fur rigid, with a small quantity 

 of under-fur on the shoulders and limbs, consisting almost entirely 

 of dark brown bristles with pale tips, and rather more rigid black- 

 brown longer bristles ; the muffle subtrigonal, as long as broad. 



Hab. Australia. 



This is the specimen figured by Mr. Gould, in Part xi. of his 

 'Mammalia of Australia,' under the name of Phascolomys latifrons; 

 but how he determined that it was the P. latifrons of Owen I do not 

 know, as the only skin we have has no skull, and P. latifrons is only 

 described from a skull. The different character of the fur is the best 

 distinction. The young Tasmanian Wombat (P. ursinus) is dark, 

 like the adult. 



On the Occurrence of living Water- Beetles in the Intestines of th 

 Common Trout. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Preston Rectory, Wellington, Salop, 

 May 21, 1863. 



Gentlemen, — While examining the intestines of the common 

 Trout (Salmo fario, Linn.) for Echinorhynchi, I was surprised to 

 find, at the space of about half an inch from the anal orifice, two 

 specimens of a small brown water-beetle, alive and active, amongst 

 the contents of the intestine. I have not yet determined the species 

 of beetle, nor do I at all know whether the discovery of a living 

 non-parasitic animal in such a locality is a matter of ordinary occur- 

 rence. But in this case there is, it would seem, undoubted evidence 

 of the power of an insect to survive unharmed the digestive process 

 of a fish. The beetles had been swallowed by the trout with other 

 food, and here they were quite lively and ready to be evacuated in a 

 very short time. 



That I have made no mistake in the matter is evident from the 

 fact, that attached to the underside of one of the beetles was a 

 quantity of mucus from the fish's intestine, in which were imbedded 

 the proboscides of two or three specimens of Echinorhynchus Proteus. 

 I have examined the stomach and intestines of various freshwater 

 fish, but never before witnessed the occurrence of living forms of 



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